I needed a photo of my quick and easy pizza dough. Each time I had made it, either the dough got used, or the pizza vanished before I could get a suitable shot taken. I happened to be roasting some pork at the time, and wanting an alternative to potatoes as a side dish. Having lovingly described the process of making a herbed, cheesy crust pizza, it wasn’t much of a leap to decide to experiment by slathering the top of the dough with cheesy goodness. The results were spectacular!! Melt in the mouth spectacular. I think I just found another family favourite (and my bring-a-plate for the next Barbeque)

For decades I convinced myself that I couldn’t bake with yeast. That it was complicated and best left to “professionals”. I gazed with lustful eyes at the soft, delicate baked goods of others and passed over their recipes when searching for something new to try. The New Year brought with it the resolve to branch out, venture into unexplored fields and learn new skills. I took down neglected recipe books, blew the dust from their virginal pages .. and found this treasure. I am already plotting decadent variations using Apple Berry Jam 🙂

Casa de Chaos is full of strong personalities, with equally strong opinions and tastes. This is never more evident than when making (or ordering) pizza. Alliances are made and broken, feuds declared and civil unrest ensues. Battle lines are drawn over thick or thin crust, the addition or exclusion of onions, mushrooms, Pepperoni, olives, how much (and what kind of) cheese or ham .. and this is long before we get to #TeamPineapple vs #TeamNoPineapple! Individual pizzas went a long way towards armistice, however it introduced a new bone of possible contention .. time. There is only so much room in the oven, and we found we had to cook pizza in shifts. Skirmishes broke out over whose pizza got precedence. Nobody wanted to stand in line. Fortunately for my sanity, it occurred to me that we could stack the pizzas by cooking them in muffin trays. The result is a tasty dinner and peace in our time 🙂

Welcome

This blog started its life as a chunk of data for my Beloved to work the arcane magic he calls “Web Development”. Through several incarnations (and many, many re-edits), my ramblings about food, plants, herb-lore and stuff have sort of .. grown. So I bid you welcome to my garden, my kitchen and my workshop. Take a load off, sip some tea and bide a while.